[1316] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
Fwd: [ASA] Need FEEDBACK: Outside Bank Accounts
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jennifer S. Yoon)
Fri May 3 11:05:31 2002
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Message-ID: <5.0.2.1.2.20020503015916.00a35b90@hesiod>
Date: Fri, 3 May 2002 01:59:29 -0400
From: "Jennifer S. Yoon" <jennyoon@MIT.EDU>
To: MIT-Talk@MIT.EDU
>To: jennyoon@MIT.EDU
>Subject: [ASA] Need FEEDBACK: Outside Bank Accounts
>From: asa-exec@MIT.EDU
>Date: Fri, 03 May 2002 01:06:03 -0400
>Sender: alvarso@MIT.EDU
>
>
>Dear Student Officers,
>
>As you may have heard, the MIT Treasurer has decided that all outside bank
>accounts of student groups, including all ASA Activities, must be closed
>by the
>end of the fiscal year (June 30th, 2002). This will directly affect any
>groups
>that currently have outside accounts, or which were planning to open new
>outside
>accounts. This decision came after the Office of the Treasurer, which
>oversees
>all of MIT finances, discovered illegitimate activities occurring through
>outside
>accounts of several student groups; these included both embezzlement and fraud
>charges currently undergoing criminal investigations.
>
>Until one week ago, the ASA Officers had no knowledge of this situation
>and the
>decision was made without consulting any part of Student Government, including
>the ASA. One week ago, we were informed of the decision, and asked to start
>working on the best way to minimize the damages that this decision may have on
>student groups.
>
>The ASA officers see two main issues on hand:
>
>First, we must work even harder to ensure that the administration consults the
>Student Government when issues such as these arise. If the ASA had been
>involved in the processes from the beginning, there is a good chance that
>alternative solutions could have been found; we will work so that in the
>future
>such abrupt and extreme decisions do not happen.
>
>Second, we need to develop a full set of financial services that MIT's system
>will need to offer in order to replace the flexibility of outside bank
>accounts. We have begun working on this, and the Treasurer's Office and the
>Students Finances Office of the Residential Life and Student Life Programs
>Office (RLSLP) are aware of the following services:
>
>- Improved online account access: web based
>- Improved monthly statements: bank-like
>- Possibility of a Debit Card for Student Activities
>- Potential of earning interest on internal accounts
>- Advance checks and petty cash availability
>- Extended business hours, possible Saturday hours, and off-hour deposits
>- Investigate locations
>- Cashier's Office: extend hours of operations
>- Make small bills and coin deposits more convenient
>- Quicker turn around time for check requests
>- Quicker turn around time for financial signatories list
>- Mailing reimbursement checks on-campus and off-campus
>- Simplify paperwork required for reimbursement
>- Establish an annual contract signed by both the group and RLSLP detailing
> services provided and responsibilities
>- Monthly training workshops
>- Potential electronic transfer of reimbursements
>- Enhance the utilization of MIT's tax exempt certificates
>
>Further ideas among the ASA Executive Board, which will be presented to the
>Treasurer's Office in the near future, include:
>
>- Allowing student groups to obtain their own tax-id numbers with which
> to open outside bank accounts, similarly to what other universitites
> have done
>- How to manage Certificates of Deposit / Endowments within the MIT system
>- Insured funds within internal accounts
>- Privacy/security of internal accounts
>
>The ASA and rest of the Student Government will meet again with the
>Treasurer's
>Office and RLSLP, and we need your input!
>
>Please send us any comments and suggestions on how to better improve the
>financial services that MIT offers to Student Activities via e-mail to
><asa-exec@mit.edu> (feel free to send anonymous e-mails), or in paper form by
>submitting letters to the ASA Mailbox in W20-401.
>
>Your ASA Executive Board.
>
>
>*****************************************************************************
>*****************************************************************************
>This email was sent by the ASA Executive Board to the officers of all MIT
>Student Activities. The ASA Executive Board moderates these mailings.
>If you have questions about its contents please contact <asa-exec@mit.edu>.
>
>You received this e-mail because you were listed as an officer of an MIT
>Student Activity. The recipients are generated automatically from
>the Officer Email List of each student group, as stored in each group's
>ASA_Info file. To update the name of this list and other information
>about a group, an officer of the student group can type 'setup asa' from
>an Athena prompt. To update individual members of a list the list
>administrator must use 'blanche' or 'listmaint' in Athena, or access
> http://web.mit.edu/moira
>with MIT certificates. The ASA does not have direct control over the
>individual memberships of officer's mailing lists.
>
>The table below indicates which lists your username is in. If you received
>this e-mail in error please contact the current officers of the groups
>listed.
>
>Username Officer's List Group Name
>---------------|--------------------|-------------------------------------------
>jennyoon asa-exec Association of Student Activities
>jennyoon kendo_officers Kendo Club, MIT
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